Bead-stringing machines



Get. 17, 1961 s oo 3,004,690

' READ-STRINGING MACHINES Filed April 27, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 17, 1961 M. SPOOL 3,004,690

BEAU-STRINGING MACHINES Filed April 27, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

Oct. 17, 1961 SPOOL 3,004,690

BEAD-STRINGING MACHINES Filed April 2'7, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 3

United States Patent 3,004,690 BEAD-STRINGING MACHINES Max Spool, Sound Beach, N .Y. I. S. Rudin, 1039 Ruatan St., Silver Spring, Md.)'

Filed Apr. 27, 1960, Ser. No. 25,149 7 Claims. (Cl. 223-48) This invention relates to a machine for stringing pierced beads, artificial pearls, natural pearls, or other similar pierced articles onto a thread, string, wire, chain, or similar strand.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a ready and simple mechanism that will string beads or similarly pierced items onto thread or wires.

Another object is to provide a bead-stringing machine which requires a minimum of operating care and attention.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, this invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts, more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more particularly defined ih'the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus embodying the invention, some parts being omitted and some shown in cutaway for the sake of clarity.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken vertically through the center of the upright post of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of one of the bead-wire supporting clamps, all such clamps being of the same size and design.

WhiCh haS not been solved satisfactorily to date. Machines now available are slow, require much adjustment and manipulation, and then provide only partial satisfaction. This invention provides a simple, foolproof machine which is easy and economical to build and assemble and has been found satisfactory to carry out its work.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes of illustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part of the specification.

Briefly, this invention relates to a machine which by means of one or two ring-shaped rotary brushes distributes and rolls beads in a circular trough, causing these beads to fall through holes in the bottom of the trough, and at the same time threading the beads on vertical wires whose top ends protrude into the holes. The beads which are not immediately threaded on the wires are pushed about by the ring-shaped brush or brushes until they do become threaded. This machine also has an arrangement of clamps which permits removing the threaded beads from the machine with a minimum of disturbance to the operation of the system.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a circular trough I mounted to the upright post 2 by means of trough supports 3, the upright post being mounted on base 4 and the upright post having mounted to it two or more bead-wire supporting clamps 5, 5, 5". In the bottom of the circular trough are a number of trough bead holes 6 arranged in a complete circle, and the holes are of suificient size to accommodate one bead at a time. A motor and appropriate transmission 7 mounted at the top of the upright post 2 drive ringshaped rotary brushes 8 and 9 in opposite directions.

These brushes dip into a supply of beads in the bottom of the trough and can move the beads about in the trough. If one brush is used it is positioned over the circular array of holes in the bottom of the trough; if two brushes are used, one is sized and positioned to come to the inner side of the array of holes and the other brush is sized to a diameter a bit larger than that of the array of holes. The

3,004,090 -Patented Oct. 17, 1961 ice,

bristles in the brushes are discontinuous, thus permitting beads to roll from one side of the brush to the other side.

Two or more rotatably mounted bead-wire supporting clamps 5, 5', 5" are fastened to upright post 2 by means of flanges 10, 10', and 10", and 11, 1d, and 11". As shown in FIG. 3, each bead-wire supporting clamp consists of disks 12 and 13 with handles 14 and 14', respectively. Each of these disks contains a circular array of holes 15, and these holes match in size, number, and position the holes in the circular trough 1. Stop pins v16 and 17 mounted in the flanges control the limits of the rotational motion of the bead-wire supporting clamp disks. The motion provided is such that when the handles are pushed toward each other, the array of holes in one of the disks slides over and away from the mating holes in the other disk and comes to rest with only a slight overlap of the holes themselves. This overlapped area of each set of holes is directly below the center of the corresponding hole in the circular trough above. When the handles are pushed in the opposite direction, the holes in one disk align with the holes in the other disk, the centerline of each pair of mating holes aligning with the center ofits corresponding hole in the trough. Detents may be mounted in the mating surfaces between the bead-wire supporting clamp disks and the flanges to hold the clamps se curely in the open or closed positions.

Bead wires 18, the upper ends of which protrude just into the holes of the circular trough, one wire to each hole, extend vertically downward through the corresponding holes of the bead-wire supporting clamps, as shown The threadingof beads, pearls, or similar pierced articles in FIGS. 1 and 2. When in the closed positions, the

on strings, wires, chains, and the likepresents a problem clamps bear down securely on the wires holding them in position, centered in the circular trough holes. One or two bead-wire supporting clamps in the-closed position and bearing on the wires will hold the wires in place. When one clamp is in the open position, the wires will still be secured by the other clamp or clamps but beads threaded on the wires will slide down to the closed bead-wire supporting clamp below, or, if past the bottom clamp, to take-up reels which are known and used in the art.

It is thus seen that this invention functions in the following manner. Beads, pearls, artificial pearls, or other similarly pierced articles are placed in circular trough 1 either directly or through some feed hopper mechanism. With power turned on and all bead-wire supporting clamps closed, the ring-shaped rotary brush or brushes will push the beads about in the bottom of the trough, some of these beads becoming threaded on the ends of bead wires 18. These threaded heads will slide down the wires and strike the top of the first bead-wire supporting clamp. After an accumulation of beads on the wires above this bead-Wire supporting clamp, the clamp is opened by the operator and the beads are permitted to slide down to the next bead-wire supporting clamp, and the first clamp is immediately closed. The second clamp is then opened permitting the beads to slide down to the third clamp and the second clamp is then closed. The third clamp may then be opened, permitting the beads to slide down and onto threads or wires of the take-up reel fastened to the lower ends of the bead wires. The third clamp may now be closed. The first bead-wire supporting clamp may now be opened, permitting newly collected threaded beads to start their downward trip. From time to time, as needed, additional beads are fed into the trough either by hand or by some automatic means.

By feeding the beads and manipulating the bead-wire supporting clamps, the operator can rapidly thread a supply of beads and deliver them to the wires or threads fastened to the lower ends of the bead wires.

While I have described a specific embodiment of my invention, it is obvious that changes may readily be made in the size, shape, materials, or relative arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for stringing pierced beads comprising acircular trough for the beads, said trough having a plurality of holes arranged inra concentric circle in the bottom of the trough, bead-wire supporting clamps located-below the circular trough and arranged in a vertical'column-one clamp below the other, concentric ring-shaped rotary brushes which extend to the same vertical depthinto the said circular trough, ,a motor :and power-transmission arrangement for driving the ringrshaped rotary brushes through thebeadsin the trough, apl-urality of beadwires, the top ends of which protrude into the saidholes in-the circular trough, one wire to a hole, saidbead wires projectingdownward throughindividual setsof holes in said bead-wire supporting clamps where said wires are supported, and ending below the lowest bead-wire supporting clamp, and a supporting structure which is essentially a base and upright post, the latter which secures the said circular trough, the bead-wire supporting clamps, the-ringshaped rotary brushes, and the motor and power-transmission arrangement in such relative positions that the motor and power-transmission arrangement drives the rotary brushes through the trough, which is supported by the upright post in vertical alignmentover the bead-wire supporting clamps, also secured in vertical alignment by the upright post.

2.. An apparatus according to claim 1 in which the ringshaped rotary brushes have discontinuous brushing surfaces.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, said bead wires each having a hook portion adjacent to the lower free end of the bead Wires.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3 in which said bead-wire supporting clamps consist of two supported matching disks, each having a handle and a circular array of holes, said holes'corresponding to the holes in the trough, said two disks being rotatably mounted on said upright post of said supporting structure and having a means to clamp the wires where they pass through the disks.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4 in which each of the two matching disks of "a bead-wire supporting clamp has a circular-array of holes, the array of one disk matchingthe array of the other disk, these arrays matching the array ofholes in saidtroughxand matching the array of holes in the other bead-wire supporting clamps, all such arrays being aligned vertically below the circle of holes in thetrough. V

6 Ari-apparatus accordingtoclaim 5 in which the array ofxholes .in :each bead-wire supporting clamp is aligned vertically with the circle of holes in the trough and a single wire of the plurality of bead wires passes downward vertically, starting in a hole in the trough and passingthrough the corresponding holes in the bead-wire supportingclamps below,.a single wire to each vertically aligned set of holes. -7. An apparatusaccording to claim 6in which each of the two disks of each bead-wire supportingclamp may be rotated to a closed position thereby 'causing the inside edges of the mating holes of the bead-wire supporting clamp to bear against the wire passing through said set of matinglholes in-fthe clamp andlholding the wire in place, and in which each of the two disks may be rotated to an open position, thereby causing the holes in the disks to align-one. with the other, permitting the wire to remain in its original position inthe center of the set of holes.

References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

